Nineteenth-century idiom alert - I just wanted to point out that on both "Face the Nation" and "Meet the Press" this morning the phrase "hammer and tongs" was used to describe the battle between the Democratic candidates. It's always funny (to me) to hear these idioms or sayings from a bygone era, like "I don't know you from Adam's off-ox."

Already the pace of technology has rendered new idioms like "brick and mortar" to describe businesses that don't operate online. In the future, will phrases like "clear as a bell" be replaced by "clear as an HDTV TV?" Will "loud and clear" turn into "surround-sound and digital?" And so on.